Countering Trump ‘is going to be a struggle’
Canadian-born political commentator David Frum was a staunch conservative and Republican when he wrote speeches for U.S. president George W. Bush. But he’s no fan of the current occupant of the White House. Frum discusses Trumpocracy: The Corruption of th
Q People’s assessments of Donald Trump range from a petulant man-child to a very stable genius. What’s your measure of him? What are the key descriptors that apply?
A I think there is a tendency, in the spectacular wake of Michael Wolff ’s book (Fire and Fury) … to underestimate Trump’s savvy and his skill. He’s obviously not a wellinformed person. He obviously does not have sustained attention, and he clearly has a lot of other psychological and moral issues. But this presentation of him as somebody who is just pitifully and helplessly in other people’s hands does dangerously underestimate him. Trump is wily. He has the bully’s genius for identifying an opponent’s weak points and exploiting them. Whether that opponent or that target is Jeb Bush or Hillary Clinton or the American Constitution, he knows how to tear it down.
Q What do you most want readers to take away from Trumpocracy?
A They need to understand Donald Trump does not rule alone. To understand why he’s able to do what he’s doing, you have to understand his relationship with his party in Congress, with his party in the country, not only with his famous voter base but also with those Republicans who don’t much like him, but have decided to go along for the ride.
Q The story of Trump jumps so quickly from one controversy to another. How can we avoid feeling overwhelmed by it?
A The details are overwhelming. The misconduct and the improper language are overwhelming. Trump described a quarter of the planet as a shithole after I went to press. But the shocking behaviour follows along lines that you could discern in the time that I had to write the book. The attack on the independence of law enforcement, the prehistory of the Trump Organization as effectively a giant moneylaundering operation. Trump’s defiance of government ethics and disclosure standards. Those things all hold true, and similarly what also holds true is the nature of the bargain between Trump and Republicans in Congress. This book was written before the passage of the tax cut, but it describes the bargain that made the tax cut possible and that will make the next actions possible.
Q What predictions can you offer regarding Trump as his term continues?
A Trump will never stop testing the limits of democratic government. He will never respect the idea of law. He wants the FBI to act as his personal security detail. I’ll tell you one way of understanding this: Shortly after president Obama took office, he had a reception for new U.S. attorneys. These are the main prosecutors of the United States government. And Obama said, “I appointed you, but you do not work for me.” Trump has never absorbed that idea and will never accept it. That’s the difference between a rule-of-law democracy, like Canada or Britain or Germany, and a plebiscitary presidency, like Argentina or Peru.
Q So what will it take to counter Trump?
A It’s going to be a struggle. It’s going to be a test. You asked me to make predictions. I don’t make predictions because I can’t think about this like a spectator. We have to act as if he could succeed, and then we have to hope that if we act as if he could succeed, that he will fail.
Q You wrote much of your book while you were in Wellington, in Prince Edward County. Are you more comfortable these days in your home and native land than in Trump’s America?
A You know, I love Prince Edward County. We plant trees there because we inherited some land that’s not in great environmental condition, so we’re trying to restore it by planting a lot of trees, and I fully expect the trees I plant are probably going to be the most enduring impact I make on this planet. But right now, the American political system is in a lot of trouble. And I think when there’s trouble, you have to run toward the trouble, not away from it.